Seeking Absolution
by broken-and-true
Summary: Lissa journeys to the town of Silent Hill seeking to find an old love. R&R, please.


It felt like she had been driving all night, the snow falling in the road blinding her. The car felt like it was sliding on ice, but somehow she managed to stay on the road. The ashtray had been full hours ago, and for the last few hundred miles she had been tossing the cigarette butts out the window, not caring about what she was leaving behind her. The last road sign claimed that Silent Hill was only 45 miles away, but it seemed she had driven twice that far.

Her cell phone was on the passenger seat, but she picked it up again to listen to the message that Philo had left her. 'I'm waiting for you in Silent Hill, babe. You remember? That place we went to years ago.' She couldn't remember the two of them ever taking a trip to a place named Silent Hill, but if he said he was there waiting, she would be there to see him. They hadn't spoken in months, and she had begun to think they never would speak again.

The road narrowed up ahead, and it seemed like she had finally reached the town itself. A sign welcoming visitors to Silent Hill hung drunkenly from the post, only one of its corners still attached. "Where are you, Philo?" she murmured, not realising that she had even spoken. Suddenly the engine on the car began to cough and sputter, and it died completely as she reached the sign. After only a moment's hesitation, she grabbed the cell phone from the passenger seat and exited the car, deciding to walk into the town itself.

The snow continued to blow around her as she walked, obscuring all but a few feet in front of her. She continued to forge her way forward into the town, and once she passed the heavy iron entranceway, the snow abruptly ceased. Behind her she could see the flakes continuing to blow, but the streets of the town showed no evidence of the near blizzard she had driven through.

Although she had never been to the town before, she knew exactly where she was going. She followed the roads until she reached Nathan Avenue, and she continued to walk, her feet aching in the strappy sandals she had worn, knowing they were Philo's favourite. She didn't seem to notice the blisters developing on her heels, or the pain working it's way up her legs. She reached the edge of a park, looking up to see the sign as she walked underneath it. Rosewater Park. Somehow she doubted that the park smelled much like roses; the entire town seemed to have an overwhelming smell of decay.

The park was a maze of small offshoots and gazebos, but she made her way to the waterside, where binoculars perched on metal stands stood against the railing. None of them worked; they all hung broken and bent, like drunken old men at their favourite watering hole. But there he was; standing in the far corner of the pier. "Philo." Not so much spoken as breathed, she stood there for a moment, looking at his back, drinking in the sight of him. She'd thought she would never see him again; never hear his voice, never smell that indefinable Philo smell, never taste his lips.

Although there was no way he could have heard her, he turned to face her. It was Philo and it wasn't; the face, the eyes, the lips belonged to him, but there was something about him, something in the way he stood. "You came."

Her mind screamed at her, telling her there was something wrong with what she was seeing, who she was seeing. But all she could think was that it was Philo, that he was here; that he was hers again. She moved forward, eagerly entering his embrace. For a moment it was like nothing had ever changed; his smell, his taste … it was all the same. She could even taste that cheap beer he always drank, the one she couldn't drink, but that she always bought for him. Her arms tightened around him, but instead of holding onto his solid frame, she could feel her arms sinking into him, like there were no bones beneath his skin.

She pulled back in horror, her heart finally listening to what her mind had been trying to tell her. The face before her, Philo's beloved face, seemed to be melding into itself; she watched, unable to move, as his nose gradually disappeared, his mouth seemed to seal itself shut … only the eyes remained, but where moments ago she had seen the pale blue eyes she had looked into so often, now she saw only the gaping sockets where eyes should have been, something dark and sordid streaming out of them. It wasn't a color she had ever seen before; one moment black, another grey, another a deep, rich blue. She stood there, horrified and mesmerised, unable to stop looking.

As she continued to watch, a voice began emanating from the creature. From where she could not tell, as there was no longer a mouth. "Your fault. All your fault. I knew you would come, come to atone for your sins, to try to forget what you did. But there's no absolution for your sins. You took everything away from me; now it's my turn." The creature came for her, its slimy, rotting arms reaching out to grab her, to hold on to her. She opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out. The creature that had once been Philo put his (it's?) hands on her, enveloping her into it. She struggled for a moment, then acquiesced, wanting one last touch so much she didn't care what he had become.


End file.
